Hurricane Alex will pick up speed over the Azores, a set of islands in the mid-Atlantic 850 miles away from Portugal which was visited by 45,000 Brits last year.

It is the first storm to form over the Atlantic in January for almost 80 years and worried residents are fearing the worst.

Such is the ferocity of the storm, fears have been raised that the the wind giant could hit mainland Europe while ABTA, the travel association, confirmed that the islands are becoming increasingly popular with British holidaymakers.

But the Met Office played down the danger – pointing out that high pressure over Spain and the UK is likely to direct the storm northwards towards Greenland and the Arctic Circle.

WEATHER CHANNEL

PATH: Hurricane Alex route as of 0300 GMT Thursday 14 Jan

Alex, the first named storm of 2016, started to spin about 350 miles south of the islands on Thursday afternoon, according to CNN.

The formation of Hurricane Alex is very unusual and the last time a hurricane formed at this time of year was in 1938.